Are Your Vendors/Partners Stalling Your Capacity?

Clay Shirky notes, “Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution.”

Are you sure that the tools you have had in place for decades can insure success in the decades to come?

I can hear the senior professionals now “what has been the cornerstone of good fundraising success remains the cornerstone”.  As a matter of fact I believe that is extremely accurate. I truly doubt there will ever be a time when the quality of the relationship with our key supporters will ever be of little importance.

Relevant again?

Having said that I think it would be difficult for any of us to make the case that the way we open, build and grow relationships is the same as it has always has been.  If we concede to any of that then the mechanisms and measures we have been using for decades need to be up for discussion.  The NewScience Of Philanthropy has proved with linear methodology that our traditional metrics have failed our ability to maximize our fundraising potential.

The tools and vendors of the past several decades have served us well and successfully brought us to this point in time.  Despite working feverishly to remain relevant with new packaging and language the tools remain grounded in strategy developed decades ago.  One of the greatest pitchers of all time recently made headlines while considering making a comeback after his time had come and gone. The baseball world simply looked on in disbelief. It is through that same lens I see so many vendors, as a result of antiquated thinking, just not able to provide the real tools needed today in order to deliver the experience to, and inspire, the donors we need in order to achieve success in the next twenty years. 

When analyzing your current needs keep Clay Shirky's thinking forefront.  Being relevant in 1980 is not all that meaningful in 2012. Anyone reading this on a Wang laptop :-)

The Physics Of Philanthropy (Understanding Your Mojo)

Seems like just simple slang but fact is that your mojo is the most important thing to understand and measure.  I am referring to your momentum.  The New Science Of Philanthropy has developed a proprietary way of measuring this singular item that measures your results more than any other metric. 

In an article about Heisenberg's (noble prize physicist) 1927 statement it was phrased it this way:

“At a time when Einstein had gained international recognition, quantum theory culminated in the late 1920’s statement of the Uncertainty Principle, which says that the more precisely the position of a particle is determined, the less precisely the momentum is known in this instant, and vice versa.”

According to this theory our year over year metrics are pretty meaningless in the big picture. The desire to understand where you are: “where are we compared to last year at this time?” the less you understand your momentum.

Our job at a key level is to create emotional momentum. What is yours and how are you measuring it?

Tradition!

I am constantly intrigued by the gravitational pull to what is known. At some level seeking out "best practice" is a commitment to the status quo. Ok, I will return to that in the near future. Riddle me this: How is it that at every fundraising conference, on every blog regarding philanthropy (social or otherwise) the beat is always about the quality of the relationships. I can hear it now still ringing in the halls of all the Hiltons & Marriotts that have hosted fundraisers over the last decade "It's all about relationships". So why is it that not a single national association recognizes a nonprofit for the longest standing relationships with it's donors or awards a nonprofit for the greatest increase in donor retention? Anyone?.....Anyone? One possibility:

Seeking Different Results?

Herbert Gerjuoy predicts that “the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write. The illiterate will be those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” Last week in San Francisco I had the opportunity to share some new thinking regarding fundraising metrics and dashboards. As it turns out most items measured in the nonprofit industry comes out a set of questions established pre 1980. My perspective is simply that our missions and customers deserve a better way of keeping score. The nonprofit industry has one of the best products in which to invest and yet,according to Penelope Burke, our retention rates are not worthy. Take a moment over the weekend and ponder how might you might reinvent designing a scorecard to manage, set strategy and define success for your organization. Make it a great weekend!

Board Connect

Incredible new tool thanks to the wisdom and vision from the folks at LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Keynote for Nonprofit Communications Leaders from LinkedIn for Good

Beginning The Story In San Francisco

These are exciting an challenging times in the nonprofit world. With decades of poor retention rates something new steps forward with new metrics and compelling logic. The story was told to groups at Head-Royce in Oakland and The Drew School in San Francisco. The New Science Of Philanthropy is the most comprehensive and logical metrics model to come forward in decades.

Jay outlining the pitfalls of metrics focused on measuring transactions along with connecting the dots to the parallels between good fundraising and Moneyball

Drew's Head Of School, Sam Cuddeback, graciously welcomes everyone to the new facility and explains the connection beween the sweatshirt and spirit day!

Barbara Baron prior to introducing the afternoon's topic